Danny Cipriani ‘put best foot forward’ to no avail as he misses out on England squad spot

Danny Cipriani’s England career continues to flounder after he was omitted from the 26-man squad picked to prepare for next Sunday’s Test against Wales.

Cipriani will not even win a place on the bench for the pre-Australia tour showdown at Twickenham, with George Ford set to start at fly-half and Ollie Devoto present to supply cover.

The Wasps-bound 28-year-old had the chance to impress head coach Eddie Jones during last week’s three-day training camp in Brighton, but has failed to force his way back into the Test thinking.

“It’s never the end, the door is always open. He came down to Brighton and put his best foot forward,” Jones said.

“He’s got some work to do on his game if he’s going to dislodge the other two boys.”

Cipriani was omitted from last autumn’s World Cup squad and won the last of his 14 caps in the build-up to the tournament.

England’s squad for the one-off match against Wales has been strengthened by the presence of players from Leicester and Wasps, who were Saturday’s beaten Aviva Premiership semi-finalists.

Those from Saracens and Exeter, who will contest the Premiership final on Saturday, are unavailable to Jones.

Manu Tuilagi’s fate will be decided in the next 48 hours when the severity of the hamstring injury that threatens to rule him out of England’s tour to Australia is confirmed.

Tuilagi suffered what was initially thought to be a grade-two tear requiring six weeks of rehabilitation.

The 25-year-old, who returned from a long-term groin problem in January and has been troubled by knee and hamstring complaints since, lasted only 20 minutes of Leicester’s Aviva Premiership semi-final rout by Saracens and a definitive decision on his fitness is expected by tomorrow.

“It’s very much in the balance whether he goes on tour or not. At the moment we don’t know if he’ll be on the tour,” said Jones.